1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle seat storing device, and in particular, to a vehicle seat storing device for, in a vehicle whose floor surface is stepped, storing a rear seat, which is disposed at the higher vehicle-rear-side floor surface, at the lower vehicle-front-side floor surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
A structure as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 3-200444 is known as one conventional example of a vehicle seat storing device for, in a vehicle whose floor surface is stepped, storing, at the lower vehicle-front-side floor surface, a rear seat which is disposed at the higher vehicle-rear-side floor surface.
As shown in FIG. 24, in this vehicle seat storing device, when a seat back 300 is inclined fully forward and a rear seat 302 is then rotated forward (in the direction of an arrow V in FIG. 24), a lock means 304 locks a coupling of a seat cushion 306 and a front leg 308 so that the rear seat 302 is integrally rotated with the front leg 308 around a lower end pin 310 of the front leg 308 as a fulcrum.
Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 25, when a headrest 312 reaches a position below the seat cushion 322 of the front seat 320, a lock releasing means 314 releases the locked state of the lock means 304. As a result, if the front leg 308 is lowered as the rear seat 302 is rotated upward (in the direction of an arrow W in FIG. 25), the rear seat 302 can be stored on a front low floor surface 322.
However, in this vehicle seat storing device, since the rear seat 302 is integrally rotated with the front leg 308 around the lower end pin 310 of the front leg 308 as a fulcrum, the radius of rotation of the rear seat 302 at the time of storing is determined by the length of the front leg 308. Accordingly, this structure cannot be applied to a vehicle in which the radius of rotation of the rear seat at the location of storing is large and the space in the seat storing direction, e.g., the distance between the front seat 320 and the rear seat 302 is short.
Another conventional example of a floor structure for a vehicle in which a storage space is formed on a stepped floor surface is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application (JP-A) No. 10-297542.
As shown in FIG. 41, in the vehicle floor structure disclosed in the aforementioned JP-A No. 10-297542, a spacer 602 is provided at an outer surface of a bottom wall 600A of a tray 600, and abuts a spare tire 606 which is stored on a spare tire pan 604. A peripheral edge flange 600B, which is formed at an opening peripheral edge portion of the tray 600, is disposed so as to be spaced apart from the top of a rear floor 608 which is located around the spare tire pan 604. Accordingly, deflecting deformation of the peripheral edge flange 600B and the bottom wall 600A can be prevented, and vibration of the bottom wall 600A is suppressed. As a result, drumming can be prevented. Further, a floor board 610 for closing a top portion of the tray 600 is supported by a rack portion 612A formed at a floor frame 612. The floor board 610 and a top surface 614A of a floor trim 614, which are aligned so as to be flush with each other, and a rear surface 616A of a rear seat 616, which is turned over so as to be flat, form a so-called full flat floor surface.
However, in this vehicle floor structure, when the rear seat 616, whose vertical height is made larger by the seat back of the rear seat being turned over onto a seat cushion, is stored in a storing portion in which the tray 600B stored, the vertical height between the bottom wall 600A and the floor board 610, which is a storage space, must be at least a height equal to the sum of the thickness of the seat back and the thickness of the seat cushion. However, if the height between the bottom wall 600A and the floor board 610 is ensured on the basis of the total of the thickness of the seat cushion and the thickness of the seat back, the space above the floor board 610 becomes narrow.